Peter Farkas spent more than 50 years making leather goods, but in the Gen Z years his $35 handmade bags became the thing drawing shoppers into SoHo. After Janell Roberts posted about him on TikTok in May, the 70-year-old Romanian immigrant leatherworker found himself back in the kind of line he had tried to leave behind.
Roberts told her 341,000 followers that the bags were the secret status item of 2026, and wrote that each one is handmade, huge and priced at $35. Farkas’s daughters Jessica, Harley and Tana now schlep up to 500 bags a week to SoHo’s St. Anthony Market or the UWS Grand Bazaar Market, where shoppers have lined up around the corner.
Janell Roberts TikTok and demand
The TikTok post did more than send curiosity. It changed the rhythm of the sale itself, because the bags that once moved through a local market table now have to be hauled in larger quantities just to keep up with the crowd. The prices for the bags range from $35 to $50, and the cobalt shade Roberts showed has its own shopper nickname: Janell Blue.
May Ng, an e-commerce executive, told The Post while shopping, “This is my third time.” She added, “I need to complete the set. It’s like Labubu; I need them all.” That kind of repeat buying is why the market lines matter: buyers are not just browsing once, they are returning to chase specific colors and sizes.
Peter Farkas in SoHo and the UWS
Farkas said, “I tried to retire and this happened.” He also said, “Everyone knows that I make them. Who else would?” The contradiction is plain: a man who thought he was done is now the center of a retail surge, with his family moving stock to keep the bags visible in SoHo and the UWS.
That surge also fits his longer history. Nearly five decades ago, he was a partner at Branded Leather in Long Island City. In 1987, he created Bruce Springsteen’s outfit for Tunnel of Love, and he has made pieces worn by the Hells Angels, Tony Soprano and the Rolling Stones. The current rush, though, is built on the simplest possible product math: a handmade bag at a price point that feels reachable enough for repeat buyers, but limited enough to create a line.
500 bags a week
For shoppers, the practical reality is that the bag is no longer a hidden find. It is a product with a known maker, a known range and a known place to look for it, but the weekly volume is still small enough that a viral post can reshape access fast. Farkas’s family is carrying up to 500 bags a week to the market tables, and that pace suggests the demand is being met only in bursts, not in a steady retail flow.
The unanswered part is how long the rush will hold. For now, the result is visible on the sidewalk: a 70-year-old leatherworker who once tried to retire is back in demand because a TikTok audience decided his bags belonged in Gen Z years.
